


I Don't Understand You

by My_Alter_Ego



Category: White Collar (TV 2009)
Genre: Double Drabble, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27913258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Alter_Ego/pseuds/My_Alter_Ego
Summary: It’s the same old dilemma of one man not understanding another. Two drabbles for the price of one.
Relationships: Peter Burke & Neal Caffrey
Kudos: 27





	I Don't Understand You

**“I Don’t Understand You, Neal.”**

“I don’t understand you, Neal.” And there it was—the dilemma for Peter Burke. He had once said those very words early on, and it was as true then as it is now, years later. During his long career, Peter had found that understanding how a quarry thinks is the key to foiling them. The formula is fairly easy because motives can be broken down into simple parts like greed, vengeance, or hatred. Well, Peter had caught Neal because he knew the young man’s motivation. But Kate was gone now, Vincent Adler had paid for that heinous act with his own life, and a Nazi cache had been repatriated. It should have been a time of catharsis for Neal and the beginning of a more stable life. But the young man wasn’t following the script. Peter knew what was displayed on the outside didn’t reflect the deeply sublimated core within. “I don’t understand you,” Peter murmured softly, yet again, as he watched Neal flip his hat onto his head and saunter out of the bullpen. 

**“I Don’t Understand You, Peter.”**

“I don’t understand you, Peter,” Neal mentally repeats that sentiment like a mantra during dark nights in his loft with only a bottle of wine for company. Why do you keep coming back for more like a punch drunk boxer taking blow after blow and refusing to fall down? I’m not worth all that anguish and pain. You keep messing with my head, insisting that I become someone that fits into your acceptable niche. You climb out on limb after limb to snatch me back from the dark side. But maybe I can’t be what you want me to be because I’m beyond redemption—a lost cause that you just can’t accept as fact. I think I’m pretty sure that’s true. Damn it, Peter Burke! I was comfortable knowing who and exactly what I was until you came along and blurred the lines. To be honest, now I don’t know whether to love or hate you, so maybe it’s myself that I don’t understand.


End file.
